if they were not, president obama would not be coming. but for president obama this is a little bit of a repeat. he was in south africa this summer, at that time, nelson mandela's health was so poor it was really touch and go. so you have had secret service in touch with their counterparts for sometime now. a preliminary plan was in place here. and i also spoke today with former administration officials to presidents clinton and bush who were instrumental in planning their trips to the funerals for israeli prime minister rabin, they say within four to six hours of nelson mandela already passing away there already would have been a support plane en route to south africa. they say it is a monumental undertaking, because some of the security issues are outsourced to the other countries and that can be difficult for secret service. >> well, we'll be there to cover it. starting at 3:30 in the united states, and you can follow me at twitter, @andersoncooperme. coming up next, my exclusive conversation with bono. [ male announcer ] introducing n